Charges dropped against lawyer for Nicor Energy

Government's move comes 9 months after mistrial in fraud case

A federal judge Thursday dismissed criminal charges in a fraud case against a Loop lawyer at the request of federal prosecutors less than two weeks before his scheduled retrial.

The action by U.S. District Judge James Zagel came nine months after a jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquittal for Michael Munson, a former outside attorney for defunct energy marketer Nicor Energy, said his lawyer, Steven Kowal.

Three former executives of the joint venture pleaded guilty in 2003 to federal fraud charges for shifting expenses to its 2002 books in order to hit profit targets for 2001 and collect bonuses.

Kowal said there was no evidence that Munson would share in the bonuses.

"We are very grateful that Mr. Munson has been fully exonerated on all of the government's charges," Kowal said. "We hope he will now be able to rebuild his legal career and restore his professional reputation."

In explaining the reasons for moving to dismiss the charges against Munson, Randall Samborn, a spokesman for U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald, cited the hung jury and recent statements by Zagel that certain evidence likely would be inadmissible at retrial.

"We believe that we have little chance of convincing a jury of Mr. Munson's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, in which case the interests of justice require us to dismiss the indictment," Samborn said in a statement.

The sentencings of the three former executives--Kevin Stoffer, president and chief executive; Andrew Johnson, director of financial services; and John Fringer, vice president--had been postponed until the case against Munson was resolved.

Stoffer and Fringer testified for the government at the trial in July.

To try to conceal from outside auditors that 2001 expenses had been improperly moved to the following year, Stoffer admitted he told Fringer to pretend to be ill and stay out of the office until the auditors had completed their review.

Fringer had warned Stoffer that "he did not lie well" and wasn't sure if he could conceal the wrongdoing if the auditors questioned him, according to court records.

As a result of the scheme, false financial statements were incorporated into filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Nicor Energy was a Lisle-based joint venture between Naperville-based Nicor Inc. and Houston-based Dynegy Inc. started in 1997. In 1998, Nicor Energy pioneered the sale of unregulated natural gas purchase plans to commercial and residential customers. The concept was that such customers could choose from an array of independent gas suppliers.

At its height, Nicor Energy had about 120 employees and 140,000 customers.